# My finger is being weird. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 20, 2016, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206 "2016-05-20T03:49:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/1 "2016-05-20T03:49:00Z")
So I am having an issue with my right index finger. It is swollen, and painful, and I have no idea why. I’ve been just treating it gently for the last few days, but I am not seeing any improvements. It looks like [this](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjvzJaT3ufMAhVh1oMKHUH9D0UQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhealthzene.com%2Fswollen-fingers-causes-symptoms-treatment%2F&psig=AFQjCNHulaPt3tUI7BGCpytu1L16X00CzA&ust=1463802052797041), and hurts greatly to touch it. Now, none of you are my doctor, and if it doesn’t seem to be improving at all in the morning, I intend to go in to the clinic and have a doc check it out. But, in the interest of taking my mind off the immediate pain, have any of you had anything like this, or does anybody have any wild guesses as to what is going on? The site I linked to for the picture lists all sorts of possibilities, but it also tells me to season my finger with turmeric, so… ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/2 "2016-05-20T03:57:14Z")
I would soak it in hot (as you can stand) Epsom Salt water for a half hour and put anti-biotic ointment on it and wrap a Band-aid around it to sleep on. My wife had something similar and it was a cyst and had to be cut out. I have no problem with you ignoring this entire post. Doctor. Tomorrow. Go. ---
**Author:** ![Farsouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3be4f8/32.png) [@Farsouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farsouth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/3 "2016-05-20T09:08:17Z")
IAND Mucous cyst (My wife has just had her one operated on) ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/4 "2016-05-20T09:30:41Z")
Maturating too much, eh? Well, who doesn’t have that problem? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/5 "2016-05-20T14:14:16Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Doctor. Tomorrow. Go. Meh. It will fall off on its own. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/6 "2016-05-20T14:55:02Z")
I had a finger, and it went bad. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/7 "2016-05-20T15:12:07Z")
Looks like an infected hangnail to me. IANAD, bit IBMN. ETA the cool medical name. Paronychia [http://www.orthopaedicsone.com/display/MSKMed/Finger+and+hand+infections](http://www.orthopaedicsone.com/display/MSKMed/Finger+and+hand+infections) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/8 "2016-05-20T16:37:40Z")
**Casey1505** , relieve my ignorance, please: IBMN? (I be male nurse?) ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/9 "2016-05-20T16:56:12Z")
IBMN I bite my nuts Infected bits may nullify Irritable bowel must normalize I become most nervouse ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/10 "2016-05-20T19:13:42Z")
IANAD or any other health professional. The photo you linked (which I understand to be a finger like yours but not your actual finger) looks infected to me, because the redness indicates inflammation (a sprain would look more like a bruise). The page doesn’t say what is going on on in that photo. The fact it hasn’t improved in “a few days” is reason to go to a doctor. Do you have that same kind of redness? Also that page is basically a vehicle for advertising. They probably paid some offshore contractor $1.50 to populate the page with crap they Googled on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/11 "2016-05-20T19:38:27Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > IBMN > > I bite my nuts > Infected bits may nullify > Irritable bowel must normalize > I become most nervouse Ich bin Mediziner nicht? I’m just spitballing though. I don’t speak any German. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/12 "2016-05-20T19:54:00Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > **Casey1505** , relieve my ignorance, please: IBMN? (I be male nurse?) Should have said \*but IBMN. I bite my nails. I get this occasionally. Usually a soak in peroxide and a lancing clears it up for me. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/13 "2016-05-20T20:37:10Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > IBMN? (I be male nurse?) > [@Omar\_Little](#): > > IBMN > > I bite my nuts > [@Casey1505](#): > > I bite my nails. nuts / nails pretty damn close. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/14 "2016-05-20T20:37:57Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > Usually a soak in peroxide **and a lancing** clears it up for me. This advice sounds much worse if we go with **Omar Little’s** first guess of “I bite my nuts.” ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/15 "2016-05-20T20:52:33Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > nuts / nails > > pretty damn close. If my mouth could reach my nuts, I’d never leave the house. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/16 "2016-05-20T22:20:09Z")
My daughter has had these a few times. Usually soaking in Epsom’s salt helps drain it but once she was given antibiotics along with the salt soak advice. We were to come back if it didn’t go down noticeably in three days. It did though. I think the plan was to drain it if it wasn’t better. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-finger-is-being-weird/755206/17 "2016-05-30T23:09:37Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > My daughter has had these a few times. Usually soaking in Epsom’s salt helps drain it but once she was given antibiotics along with the salt soak advice. We were to come back if it didn’t go down noticeably in three days. It did though. I think the plan was to drain it if it wasn’t better. I have to wonder whether the Epsom salts do anything - [some articles](https://www.painscience.com/articles/epsom-salts.php) [suggest there’s no effect](http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/epsom-salt-bath) - but it sure couldn’t hurt. Don’t let the lack of a supply stop the warm soaks though. Years ago, I had a cut on my foot that became infected. A friend suggested I soak it in hot salt water (table salt) - which I did, while waiting to see the doctor. It was in fact improving by the time I got in, but the doctor was skeptical of the salt’s effect and attributed it to the hot water. It certainly did no harm, and salt can have a direct antibacterial effect (hence its use in food preservation). That was with an open cut, however, not a closed swelling where salt (or epsom salt) can’t get at the actual inflamed bits. The OP hasn’t come back - hopefully all went well when s/he went to the doctor.